Iranian Defense Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani has cancelled a trip to Russia scheduled for Tuesday because it would coincide with a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the official Iranian news agency, IRNA.

Citing "informed sources" in Tehran, IRNA said the reason for the postponement of the trip was to "foil the Zionist regime's negative propaganda purposes from the simultaneous trip to Moscow by the Zionist regime's prime minister."

Sharon headed for Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian officials on the Palestinian crisis and ways to persuade the officials to halt the flow of hi-tech data to Iran.

Haaretz newspaper said that Sharon would ask his hosts to halt the flow of technological information to Iran, telling them that Iran's nuclear weapons endanger the lives of six million Israelis, "including one million of Russian descent."

Iran does not recognize Israel, which had ties with the US-backed regime of the Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Vahlawi, who was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979 - Alawaba.com